Moral Quandary: Can Erik Buy a Blue Jays Hat?
Editor at DRaysBay, contributor to RotoGraphs, and bearded gentleman Erik Hahmann has a tough question in these even tougher times: is he — as someone who (a) cares about the Tampa Bay Rays and (b) also has a beard — is he a bad fan if he wants to buy some form of Blue Jays team apparel?
Hahmann brought this question to the present author last night, and I, perhaps too confident in the precision of the readership’s moral compass, bring it to said readership now, via the embedded poll you find below.
Save Erik, reader, and save yourself.
Carson Cistulli says terrible things at The New Enthusiast.
Other: Beardedict Arnold
Agreed, this sort of trash shouldn’t be calling himself a rays fan. You are allowed to follow and enjoy the uniforms of only one team per league.
You want a blue cap with red stitching, go ask your boy woodram if you can borrow the hat on his head.
I don’t loan my Rays hats to traitors.
Et tu, Beardus?
I sympathize, as the new Blue Jays logo is objectively awesome. But no, God no.
The logo is objectively awesome indeed. Everyone should permit themselves one indiscretion.
The world is a decidely gray area. But, its much, much closer to no than yes.
An important issue.
save myself from what i ask
Other: Luke Scott
my boss routinely wears hats from pretty much every mlb team (including a pretty baller colt .45s hat that i have great desire to steal) and i’ve always thought this was kinda ok even though he’s a phillies fan. i’d say Hahmann’s intentions are perhaps more important than his actions here. i own several items which are associated with mlb teams other than my favorite (for example, i don’t own a flashlight and the lights in my basement are broken, so i bought a late-90s devil rays jersey to illuminate my surroundings when i wear it) and think there’s nothing wrong with branching out in specific extenuating circumstances. on the other hand, i tried to use this same logic in a romantic relationship one time, and that definitely did not end well. in short, i’d seek advice from literally anyone other than myself.
Not everybody that wears/owns a Yankees cap is a Yankee fan.
I
Are you telling me Fred Durst couldn’t recite the current slash line of his favorite Scranton AAA prospect?
This stuttering freak has finally crossed the line. Go ahead and buy the jays cap, just please stop pretending you actually are a rays fan.
I guess what is the biggest surprised in this poll. Is the fact there ARE Rays fans.
If a Rays fan wears a Jays hat and nobody is at the Trop to see it…. well you know.
It would be very un-american to buy a hat from a canadian team
Why? There’s more Americans on the Blue Jays than Canadians.
I think it’s ok. In my mind there’s sort of an alliance between the well-run small-to-mid market teams that includes the Jays, the Rays, possibly the Diamondbacks. Former members include the Athletics and Twins.
Oh, and the Royals. Forgot about the Royals.
the subject here. But Toronto is not a mid level market or small level market team. It’s the 5th largest market in MLB. They have just been building up like a small market team. But when the time comes, the Jays will be spending BIG on their own FA’s along with others. Unlike the small market Ray.
Unless it is a bitter rival to your hometown team, I’m all about sporting a wide array of different team caps, provided we are talking awesome classic logos. Which we are.
However, the Jays are a divisional rival to the Rays, so while in general I support rocking any sweet classic baseball logo, this is a foul.
Appropriate hats to consider as a Rays fan would be something like the old Brewers logo (ball in mit with the hidden “mb”), or an A’s cap, or maybe even a Brooklyn-era Dodgers hat.
Not to change the subject here. But Toronto is not a mid level market or small level market team. It’s the 5th largest market in MLB. They have just been building up like a small market team. But when the time comes, the Jays will be spending BIG on their own FA’s along with others. Unlike the small market Ray.
Oh so now I get it. The Blue Jays are the Houston Astros of Canada, not the Tampa Bay Rays of Canada. Thanks for clarifying this.
No problem. Was worried a few of you Americans were unaware just how big Toronto really is. Since a few of you also aren’t aware of anything outside your own front door.
Sheesh, bitter?
Toronto is, like, on the west coast…. right?
West-ish coast of Lake Ontario
Different league than your favorite team: good!
Same league, but different division, than your favorite team: ehh
Same league, same division, as your favorite team: bad!
Also, any minor league cap: highly encouraged
“Different league than your favorite team: good!”
Not so fast.
I’m a red sox fan. In around April of 2007 I bought a Rockies hat because I liked it. I still get harassed about it.
The fact that he has to ask means he knows what the answer is.
I say, if a man (or woman) does not own a ballcap from at least half of the operating Major League clubs, whether they be current, historical, or representing minor league branches, then he (or she) is not a man (or woman).
Absolutely. If you visit a ballpark that isn’t your teams to watch a game that your team isn’t playing in, you buy a cap to commemorate the occasion, to say, “crossed another ballpark off the list.” If your team is playing, obviously, you’re wearing their hat and getting beat up and your wallet taken, so you can’t buy one even if you wanted to, which you don’t because your team is playing!
So yes, he can buy a Blue Jays cap, but he has to make the trek to Toronto to do so.
I like this answer – yes he can, if it’s bought at the stadium in Toronto!
You keep telling yourself that, traitor.
Just get stuff from Ebbets Field- it’s cool looking baseball stuff and you dont have to worry about it because NONE OF THE TEAMS EXIST ANYMORE!
Anyone who doesn’t vote other is ignoring the beautiful possibilties there.
As a Jays fan, I always rooted for the OriLOLes and the Rays as well. After all, the ultimate goal is to make sure the Yankees and/or Red Sox don’t win.